


i thought i heard you whisper

by jinxfabray



Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: AU, M/M, christmas eve eve aka louis birthday eve
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-26
Updated: 2015-12-26
Packaged: 2018-05-09 14:02:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5542607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jinxfabray/pseuds/jinxfabray
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>it's the night before christmas' eve, and louis is stuck at the airport with none other than his sworn enemy.</p>
            </blockquote>





	i thought i heard you whisper

**Author's Note:**

  * For [slowestdive (turntlou)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/turntlou/gifts).



> title from dagger by slowdive.  
> my darling dearest ash, this is my first time writing tomlinshaw so i hope it turned out alright. i hope you enjoy it and i hope you have the most wonderful holiday season <3

there’s a child that won’t stop crying at the other end of the food hall and louis can relate. this isn’t how he thought he’d be spending the night before his birthday, but this is what he gets for being born on stupid christmas’ eve. honestly, out of three hundred and sixty five days, he had to be born right on the day when everyone else is always gonna be trying to get home too - an unlucky start to an unlucky life.

“i can feel you being melodramatic in your own head and it’s bumming me out, please stop,” nick says, looking up from his book.

he moved to london hoping to achieve - god, he can barely remember anymore, but /things/, better things, things that weren’t getting stuck working at a lousy radio station with someone as annoying and just generally awful as nick grimshaw. hideous nick grimshaw, who louis is now stuck with at this stupid airport thanks to the stupid snow that keeps delaying all the stupid flights.

“you do realize you’re muttering to yourself like a crazy person, right?” nick speaks again, because apparently louis grunting back at him wasn’t a sign obvious enough that he isn’t interested in talking to him.

“yes,” louis replies, staring straight ahead at the old lady that’s fallen asleep on her seat in a very awkward position and only glancing at him from the corner of his eye. 

“good. i was just checking,” nick says, going back to his book. “you know heathrow is huge, if my presence here bothers you so much, you could just move somewhere else.”

“don’t be ridiculous,” louis huffs out, “we’re right across the only place with decent coffee in this entire airport, i’m not moving. you move.”

“i sat here first,” nick says calmly as if that grants him any rights over anything, then turning the page on his book.

perfect. it’s fine, louis can ignore him, he’s got better things to do like sulking and thinking of how fun it will be to spend his birthday here, at the airport, with a bunch of strangers and the one person he hates the most in the entire universe.

nick lasts another entire half hour before he sighs and puts his book back in his bag, getting to his feet. it probably has to do with the fact that it’s almost eleven pm and louis knows his flight is short enough that even if he leaves mid afternoon on his birthday he’ll still make it home before it’s over, but. his birthday’s going to start soon, and it’s going to start here. in this airport. he thinks that deserves all his most heartfelt sighs and grunts, and if they drive nick away, then that’s even better.

“i’ll be back, don’t get too excited,” nick warns him as he’s grabbing his coat from his chair, and louis rolls his eyes at him.

“i couldn’t care less,” he calls out after him but he’s walking away quite fast and there’s a lot of people around so maybe he hasn’t heard him. he hopes he did.

his mum texts him at 11:45 and it makes him tear up a little, so he replies with every crying emoji in the world just so she knows what she’s caused, because he can’t be the only one upset about this. it’s his own fault for not having travelled sooner, but he had to work, so maybe it’s his fault for having chosen to leave his house and go all the way to this terrible big city where he still can’t quite feel at home in, instead of saying home with his mum who wouldn’t have ever let anything like this happen to him, if she had him nearby.

he’s almost twenty four, and he’s sitting here, wiping a tear off his cheek because he misses his mum. he would kick himself if he wasn’t so sad.

“i hope you don’t hate blueberries, but i do so i figured maybe you wouldn’t,” nick says dropping down back on the seat next to his, and louis looks up, ready to yell at him for interrupting his pity party but - he’s holding a cupcake with a candle on top.

“they let you set something on fire?” louis says slowly, and he hopes his voice doesn’t sound as terribly choked as he thinks it does.

“no, they didn’t, but it’s your birthday in approximately a minute and i think we can get away with it if you blow it out real quick,” nick says, and now that he’s smiling at him he doesn’t look quite as hideous as usual.

“did i tell you it was my birthday? i don’t remember telling you it was my birthday, was i drunk?” louis says because that’s easier than to acknowledging the fact that nick, disgusting, horrible nick, is doing something /sweet/ for him.

“you didn’t, but you work for me, i know stuff,” nick says rolling his eyes, and looking like the nick louis is used to for a second, but then his face is doing that soft look thing again that makes louis want to not punch him. it’s a weird feeling and louis doesn’t like it.

“why are you doing this?” louis asks, eyeing him suspiciously, and he’s wasting precious seconds he should be spending gathering air so he can blow out his birthday candle, but he has to know because nick hasn’t ever been sweet to him. he’s never even been nice to him, or even remotely civil -  though now that he’s thinking about it, maybe nick hasn’t exactly been terrible to him either. maybe he’s been the one who’s been awful to nick, maybe he’s been so mad at his own life that he never noticed nick was always being this nice to him and maybe he’s been a bit of an idiot.

louis was being terrible to him yet he got up and went to find him a nice little cake with a candle on top. maybe he’s kept nick at a distance because he was scared of him turning out to be great, and possibly the only good thing that’s happened to him in this city.

“you know, if you gave me a chance maybe i wouldn’t be as terrible as you think i am,” nick says shrugging his shoulders, checking his watch. “happy birthday, tomlinson. don’t forget to make a wish.“

he doesn't want to risk setting the airport on fire, so he blows out the candle before kissing him.

(he eats the entire cupcake and never ever tells him he hates blueberries with a passion too.)


End file.
